Speakers upgrade

[Iori]

First of all another big thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread. The differing viewpoints are fascinating and have really mad me think about what I want to achieve at the end of the day.

The only real goal that I have is to enjoy all of my music, whatever it may be at the best quality that I can achieve with the funds available to me (appologies if I'm stating the obvious but it can be all to easily overlooked sometimes).

In order to achieve that goal

1. The speakers will need to 'work' within the listening environment 20.5' x 10.5' x 8', that I feel is the greatest challenge.

2. The amplifier must compliment the speakers and not the other way round. There's no point in getting amplifier 'x' which may be the best thing since sliced bread only to find that it doesen't get the best out of speakers 'y' which I deem to be the best match for my tastes and listening environment.

I guess that what I'm getting at in a round about way is that both speakers and amplifier will need to be evaluated and chosen together even if they are not going to be purchased at the same time.

 

[Iori]

The Sonos will be the main source midterm though that will be upgraded eventually, also I have other sources which wil be connected ie sat receiver, blue ray, HD recorder. Also I never use the volume control on the sonos app, even on my basic system I can percieve a difference in quality at lower listening levels.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

What?

Vlad, none of what you typed means anything in this context.

DBT, psycowhat?

Not even going to try working out what those 2 cars represent.

Strange.

Pitch a 100 pound 30watt amp against a 1000pound 100watt amp and the differences are as clear as night and day .

Your argument only holds water if the better amp is limited to the poorer amps limits.

The core of this dilema with amplifiers is the quality of sound, not quantity. In a DBT test with all levels matched, no clipping, we test the myth of a 60W audiophile amp bettering a 300W pro amp for sonic quality, thus justifying the difference in price. What will be the results if we compare £2,500 Naim Supernait 2 (80Wpc in 8 ohms) vs £150 Behringer A500 (300Wpc in 8 ohms)??

People tend to ascribe additional quality points to amplifiers due to marketing influence, groupthink, nostalgia, own logical reasoning etc. They confirm their bias by sighted listening tests in showrooms and we know that is the most unreliable test possible due to psychoacoustics. Are these experienced listeners deaf or delusional? Actually no, they may hear a real difference in sighted tests when they can fiddle with the volume knob to their will, as you suggested.

When an amp has the sufficent power to extend bass properly (like the recording has it) the sound is big, fat, slow and midrange details are obscured to our perception when we try to analyze the sound. Many audiophiles prefer underpowered amps because they sound more airy, faster, more detailed, usually unaware that this is because they can't reproduce bass to the full extent. Here emerges the psychoacustic effect of more quality when quantity lacks. One who prefers the spine tingling details of the midrange, where our hearing is most sensitive, or the rich textures of string in upper bass and lower midrange, just prefers leaving bottom end of the frequency range subdued.

 

[CnoEvil]

I guess that what I'm getting at in a round about way is that both speakers and amplifier will need to be evaluated and chosen together even if they are not going to be purchased at the same time.

This would be my view as well......and have said so many times on here.

 

[Covenanter]

I guess that what I'm getting at in a round about way is that both speakers and amplifier will need to be evaluated and chosen together even if they are not going to be purchased at the same time.

This would be my view as well......and have said so many times on here.

+1

Chris